Literary Works - Book Report/Review Example

Literary Works Review s From the Underground The literary work is a novella written in 1864 by Fyodor Dostoyevsky where the author presents a rambling memoir through a bitter, isolated as well as an unrevealed narrator. The author uses the narrator that the audience understands is a civil servant that is already retired as he narrates his memoir. The story is given in two forms with the fist forms occurring in the form of a monologue or what is referred to as the underground man’s diary where the unnamed narrator is attacking the Western philosophy that is emerging.

In part two of the novella, the narrator provides a description of a variety of events that tend to destroy while at some instances renewing him. The literary work depicts the realist art movement in that literary realism attempted to provide a representation of familiar things as they occur. As such, realism serves as a form of faithful representation of the manner of how things happen in reality. Through deriving its basis on objective reality, realism focused on portraying daily activities as well as life among the lower class or middle class without dramatization or romantic idealization.

For example, the narrator explains his desire for happiness in life as one that is curtailed by his toothache as well as liver pain. The underground man further gives harsh criticism to individuals in the form of determinism as well as intellectuals that tend to dictate action and behavior of human through logic where he mentions it in the form of simple mathematics where two times two equals four (Dostoyevsky 43). The narrator argues that it is impossible for a person to avoid a simple fact that leads to making a decision that might not be considered as based on that person’s interests. 2. Realism versus Modernism Literary movements erupted after a period where a group held different views regarding literature representations from the previous groups.

Realism resulted after disagreeing with the idealism movement with modernism replacing realism point of view. Realist artists opted to present daily realities and experience that human being face. As such, realism is considered a representation of reality in a faithful manner. Modernism on the other hand resulted immediately after the era of realism in the late 19th century as well as early 20th century. The difference between modernism and realism is evidenced through modernism taking a self-conscious break from the existing forms of styles as well as verse.

Although realism presented a new thinking that focused on reality of matter, it still adhered to the traditional concept of both style and verse. With an aim of overrunning the traditional representation modes as well as expression of new sensibilities that capture the time of modernists, modernism was adopted. A significant example of a modernism piece of work is the Love Song by Alfred Prufrock. The setting of the poem takes a different form than the normal with the author experiencing significant freedom in the manner of arrangement of events and characters role within the poem.

For example, towards the end of the poem, the author out of nowhere takes the reader to the beach (Eliot 13). Notes from the Underground serves as a good representation of realism with the novella capturing some realistic ideas and adhering to a traditional flow. Works Cited Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. Notes from the Underground. Waiheke Island: Floating Press, 2009. Print. Eliot, T S. Selected Poems. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1967. Print.